US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Speaks To The Troops on US Aircraft Carrier in Japan | Trump |N18G

I hear they call you guys the freedom fighters, is that right? I'll tell you this, I've seen a lot of beautiful things. I don't know, this might be the most beautiful sight I've ever seen right here. What an honor it is to be here. It's a long flight to get out here. You guys know that, but it is an honor. I've got a cap, I've got to put this on. What a beautiful looking ship you've got. Even more beautiful looking men and women out here. And our Japanese partners as well. It's great to see you. Thank you for taking a moment. And in a moment you're going to see our Commander-in-Chief. I know he's thrilled to see all of you. I can't help but think, you know, George Washington, the ultimate freedom fighter. The ship's named after him. He's the first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of all of our countrymen. And when we think of 250 years of our country, we're coming up on 250 years. Everybody likes to think 1776. But of course, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Army are all 250 years old, dating back to 1775. We talk about 1776, and rightfully so, the Declaration of Independence. The amazing moment we launched this American experiment. But it doesn't start without 1775. Without Americans willing to pick up, then it was a musket, didn't quite have aircraft carriers. A musket willing to stand their ground and believe in something greater than themselves. To fight for freedom. And when I look out into your eyes, all those eyes way back there past the press. Just get them out of the way. When I see all those eyes back there, I see the very same eyes of those men and women from 1775. Who were young, hungry, principled, gritty, tough, and willing to fight for the man and the woman on the right and the left. For deep principles and convictions that you still stand for today. You know, what President Trump's doing is pretty simple, but it's revolutionary. He's reminding the country and our adversaries that we're going to put America first. How about that? Now that doesn't mean America alone. We have our allies, like we do here in Japan. Incredible allies, where we have 55,000 American troops and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them. But part of being strong is putting America and Americans first. It also means, on that banner, peace through strength. It means reestablishing deterrence. When you've lost it, it's important to reestablish it. President Trump has done that from the Houthis and opening up our shipping lanes. When you just give away shipping lanes to pirates, that creates problems. He showed up and said no more. Or Iran's pursuit of a nuclear bomb and he said, how about we send B-2s, 37 hours, over to take care of that. To ensure that they don't have a nuclear bomb. Or how about defending our own shores? Zero people crossing our border right now. Because for too long we had an invasion of folks and we don't know who they are or where they're coming from. Crossing our borders. Poisoning our communities with drugs. I would not want to be in a drug boat in the Caribbean right now. It's about time we defend our own homeland. And we will do that. So it's America first. It's peace through strength. But it's also common sense. You hear it and you see it all the time. I have the great pleasure of watching President Trump on a daily basis. In private meetings, in meetings with foreign leaders as we're planning. And the application of common sense, as you know, is not all that common in Washington, D.C. But when you apply it, it makes sense and you get things done. And one of those things we're doing at the Department of War. Welcome to the War Department. Is we're applying common sense. We're getting back to basics. It's actually, again, not that complicated. We're going to ensure that we train. That we're equipped. That we hold people accountable. That we maintain discipline. That we focus on lethality and readiness and war fighting. All the types of things that you signed up to do. Now, for too long, the previous administration, iterations of administrations, there was a phrase, it's the dumbest phrase in military history. And that phrase is, our diversity is our strength. You see, I look out at this crowd and I see a lot of diverse faces. A lot of faces, black, brown, white, and otherwise. From small towns, from big cities, rich, poor. I don't know you and you don't know me. But I don't look at you and see who you are based on the color of your skin. I look at you as a fellow American who bleeds red. Our strength is not our diversity. Our strength is our common purpose. Our strength is our unity. Our strength is our mission. Our strength is our oath to the Constitution that we will defend each other. That's our strength. That's what the world sees. That's what I saw inside my platoon. That's what I see across this beautiful ship. Incredible Americans, the real 1% Forget about the elites and the 1%, Hollywood and Wall Street and all that. The real 1% are the Americans who are willing to put the uniform on and fight for something greater than themselves in the prime of their life. They could do anything else. Yet here you are serving your country. Here you are away from your country, away from your family, away from your community, serving your nation. We owe you to get back to basics to allow you to do your job. And the response of America and young Americans has been incredible. Recruiting, as President Trump said a year ago, they couldn't get anybody to sign up. Now we can't push enough people through basic training Because of the excitement of young Americans, you want to do exactly what you're doing. Be proud of what you're doing. Stand up straight. You are, when I see those eyes, I see the eyes of American deterrence. You are reestablishing the piece of your strength that was lost. It's not the machines. It's not the ships. It's not the planes. It's the great Americans who stand their ground every single day. I look out at a lot of you men. I see some young faces. I see eyes that look a lot like my oldest son who's 50. And let me tell you, if he made the same decision you made at that age, man, I'd be proud. I don't know if he ever will. I don't know if he's got the guts to do it. Maybe. Don't tell me. I think he does. But I see the best of America here, and I'm proud. We are proud of the Department of War to serve you. Our job is to have your back. And that's something President Trump asked me to tell the troops everywhere we go. That's all I ever wanted when I was a young platoon leader, is to know that my leader, my company commander, my battalion commander, my brigade commander, division commander, you name it, squad leader, would have my back when we do difficult, dangerous things in the dead of night where you can make mistakes. And it's life or death. President Trump, I watch it every day, he has your back. At the Department of War, we have your back. And so we came all this way to reestablish those alliances, make sure adversaries understand how strong we are, and that we can project power on beautiful platforms like this, but I came out to encourage you and thank you and recognize to the American people everywhere what a special role you play in this 250 years of the American experiment. We're not here without men and women like you. And if we produce men and women like you, we have 250 more years of this great country and of this great alliance. That's our job, is to pass it to the next generation. Look at those stars and stripes right there. That's what it's all about. That's what we're defending. Those freedoms and those Americans back home cherish that peace and that prosperity and those basic freedoms. That's what we defend. That's what makes America so different. We don't fight because we hate what's in front of us. We fight because we love what's behind us. We love the freedoms that we cherish. And you're the reason we have them. So thank you for everything you do. God bless you. Call your parents and thank them. They instilled in you the values to do something big, to do something special, to test yourself. And for that, I'm grateful. God bless you. God bless the USS George Washington. And God bless our great Republic. Thank you very much. Before we conclude here, we're going to do a reenlistment. Let me tell you this. I don't know the stats of all the services. I don't. But all I know is in the first week of October, the Marine Corps met its reenlistment in the first week for all of the entire year. Oh, we got some Marines out there. Loud, huh? All of the other services will soon meet those same goals. And as a leader, reenlistment, I think, is the ultimate validation that we continue to be committed and we appreciate the leadership inside those ranks. So it's a testament to the leadership here and hopefully the tone that we're setting. So join us as we get a chance of giving the oath of enlistment to this fine crowd.